By Menachem Bornstein


Production Tre an energy-efficie


Gypsophila is considered a “Summer Plant”. Flow cultivar is defined as having a “Long Day” reactio


W


hen growing Gypsophila commercially, we are able to substitute this need for long days by using light during night time, thus


stimulating flowering even during winter time when days are short. Supplementary lighting can com- pensate for lack of daylight during Gypsophila cul- tivation. For sure, it comes with a cost for the infra- structure and energy used. Traditionally, until two decades ago, the Gypsophila industry used “Perfecta” as the main variety, and it’s still used extensively for its long and heavy stems. Perfecta needs supplementary lighting even during summer time. In Ecuador, where most growing areas are located, additional lighting during night time is a must when using Perfecta, or else it will not flower.


Using light has several disadvantages:


• Installing the infrastructure and operation reflects heavily on production costs. • Electric power supply is not always available or de-


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pendable, especially in developing countries where most of flower production is located.


• Having to be connected to the power supply net- work means that the field has to be fixed at place. But phytosanitary problems and lack of good soil disin- fectors demand a periodical change in field location, which is a problem if you can’t move the power sup- ply as well.


• World global warming demands an efficient use of energy to reduce CO2


emission. Supermarket chains


are leading a “Green Production”, calculating the “car- bon foot print” of each product, forcing growers to save on energy use.


• Nowadays regulations are banning the use of in- candescent light bulbs over 60 watts. In Gypophila cultivation, we normally use 100-150 watt bulbs. Currently we don’t have a substitute, so the new reg-


ulations will pose a problem to meet the demand of Gypsophila for efficient supplementary light.


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